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I’ve mentioned briefly my aspirations to snail farming.  I’d like to do it more for fun and profit than personal consumption, but I’m sure that I’d have to try cooking and eating some of my harvest to make sure I’ve got a good product. 

I’ve been reading articles online to learn some of the basics of “helioculture,”  but I’m sure reading everything I can get my hands on would not substitute for real-life experience.  So if anybody out there can point me in the direction of an escargot apprenticeship, please let me know.  I really need to see with my own eyes, and get my hands into, the management of snail pens.

There’s also the important matter of my beginning stock.  I’m quite sure there are strict laws governing the importation of live animals, snails included. There are also laws regulating live shellstock crossing state lines in the U.S.  I’d like to begin with the absolute best snails, perhaps more than one variety.  So if anybody can provide contact information for domestic snail sources, I’d be most thankful.  There’s a fellow in Le Perche region of France named Phillipe Couvreur who supposedly has bred the most dynamite escargot ever, but I can’t imagine how I’d legally obtain some of his l’il slithers while still alive.  But if there’s a way for me to get hold of good European snail stock, PLEASE let me know.  I’m in uncharted waters here.  Thank you!